Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should create a “positive environment” for resolving political differences and adopt a “first the easy, then the difficult” approach to furthering bilateral ties, a visiting Chinese official told a forum in Taipei yesterday.
“Without proper management or being partially dealt with, the political differences [between the two sides] will hamper the development of cross-strait relations,” said Sun Yafu (孫亞夫), deputy director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
The forum was organized by the Taipei Forum Foundation, a Taiwan-based think tank, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a bilateral negotiation held in Singapore between April 27 and April 29, 1993 — the first official contact between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Photo: CNA
The unprecedented negotiations, also known as the “Koo-Wang talks,” saw then Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and his Chinese counterpart, then Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) chairman Wang Daohan (汪道涵), sign four agreements.
Sun, who also serves as ARATS vice president, said that while Beijing has “confidence and patience” in the peaceful development of cross-strait engagement, it believes that such ties should make progress on every front, including the political one.
He said he supported a proposal to establish a cross-strait think tank or forum to discuss and contemplate “sensitive topics” that could not yet be negotiated by the Taiwanese and Chinese governments.
Sun praised the meeting as a “milestone,” but it seemed that every speaker at the forum was aware that the next phase of bilateral engagement and China’s intention to facilitate political talks with Taiwan would be the most important issues.
Former vice president Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) and former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said that the time was not ripe for the two sides to begin political negotiations due to the lack of consensus on the issue in Taiwan, with Liu saying that Beijing’s insistence on the “one China” framework had also contributed to the stalemate.
Former SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to seek a bilateral peace agreement and a pact on military confidence-building measures with China before then end of his term, and called for granting Chinese television stations broadcasting licenses in Taiwan.
“To counteract the much-criticized media chaos in Taiwan, we can bring in TV stations like China Central Television and Phoenix Television, which present much better coverage of international news,” Chiang said.
The proposal reflected the urgency for Taiwan to build up its confidence — economically and culturally — against a rising China, Chiang said, adding that Taiwan also has to be determined in carrying out trade liberalization and regional economic integration.
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS